STORM’S GARCES STARTING TO HARNESS HIS TALENT

Dominican left-hander is tough to hit even though he lacks size, velocity

Garces tends to use his curveball when he’s ahead in the count, and for good reason — it’s his best secondary pitch. He froze Modesto’s Robert Kandilas with his curveball for a called third strike during the first inning. But he also showed more confidence in his change-up, the pitch that Wooten says he needs to throw more consistently down in the strike zone.

“His go-to pitch was his changeup (tonight),” Rodriguez said. “We had a lot of fun messing around with hitters with that.”

Staff pushed to limits

In a span of four days, between Tuesday and Friday, the Storm endured a pair of 17-inning games. They fell 11-9 to Stockton on Tuesday and defeated Modesto 4-3 Friday. Wooten used eight pitchers in both games.

Unfortunately for the Storm staff, there’s no break on the horizon. Lake Elsinore plays every day between now and the start of the All-Star break on June 17.

“I am hoping for rain,” Wooten said.

Adding to the intense schedule, the Storm visit High Desert from Monday through Wednesday. Mavericks Stadium is notorious for being one of professional baseball’s most hitter-friendly venues.

The Storm have yet to use a position player on the mound this season, but Wooten said that’s a possibility before the All-Star break. Infielders Travis Whitmore, Justin Miller and B.J. Guinn are the top candidates for emergency duty.

“For development reasons, if they throw a certain amount of pitches, a certain amount of innings, they have to sit,” Wooten said of his pitchers. “If so, if it comes down to it, I’m not going to get anybody hurt. If I have to, I will throw a position player.”

Et cetera

Yeison Asencio hit a home that was estimated at 426 feet, off the center-field batter’s eye, as the Storm beat Modesto 2-0 in the continuation of Thursday’s suspended game. ... Travis Jankowski stole three bases to boost his league-leading total to 24.